Last updated on October 1st, 2020
Written by @IamtheMarkus. Follow him on twitter for regular FPL insights!
Penalties galore and even a penalty converted after the full-time whistle, Jimenez scoring (in the wrong net), Man City & Wolves conceding 9 times between them, Chelsea 3-0 down to West Brom at half-time, a Maupay ‘Panenka’, Son’s hammy going, Bamford showing what a proper striker can do. It was my first 4 pointer blank, as it were, in a week where many flocked to Son or Jimmy or followed suit with the real winners being those with Vardy (17)/Fernandes(12) or heck even Kane and DCL with a single return each. There’s no telling how long this interpretation of the handball rule will mar some of the first rounds even with the tweaks this week, so having the penalty takers may reap extra fruit at this time. We’ve currently reached the dizzying heights of 28 points from 3 captain turnouts. Some improvement will be required pronto in order to make my way back up the ranks and continue to write this piece without too much shame.
TLDR
My © will be Salah over KDB. This is more on gut / how Liverpool are playing rather than any one metric. I don’t own Jiménez/Ings but would highly fancy him as one of the better options this week. Aubameyang is likely to haunt those who sold him, myself included.
Looking forward to GW4…
- Zaha may well enjoy his time against a Chelsea lineup that still looks very shaky at the back as Chelsea’s back-line keeps changing from game to game.
- Everton do possess a lot of aerial prowess and good delivery but I wonder if Brighton’s tall back-line will have the measure of them to keep them at bay.
- Wolves no doubt will expect a reaction after the manner of their defeat against West Ham.
- Whilst Leeds will relish a visit to Man City after looking at those heatmaps of Man City’s centre backs from the Leicester game (conceded 5) where they basically spent no time trying to defend.
- Villa’s men looked clinical at Fulham but their new-found defensive resolve will be sorely tested against Liverpool.
- Southampton / West Brom looks like it could be quite an entertaining and open game so I imagine Ings /Perrera/Diagiana will all fancy their chances of adding to their respective tallies.
- Kane has been firing off the shots but fixture fatigue is bound to be an issue for Spurs and whilst Manchester United have not particularly impressed, you get the sense this fixture could be a bit of a damp squib (unless you win of course).
- Man City were not at the races, but with a clear week they will likely look to put down a marker on Leeds.
- Liverpool are starting to look more like themselves particularly in attack.
- I only really rate two picks in my squad this week for the armband, but think there are plenty of alternative picks out there.
KDB – TSB ~ 43%
This man has found his way back into my side this week at the expense of Sterling. Manchester City looked a bit shell-shocked for most of the match against Leicester. Against Burnley midweek many were rested with KDB just playing the hour. A proper rest this week and with a no doubt bizarre (PEP) talk I imagine we will see a very different Man City. At the heart will be KDB and he will have to be instrumental in what will be a trickier game due to squad constraints up-front. Whilst they seem to lose their focus of play without an out and out striker, I feel a week of training is a long time and expect the solution to show at the weekend. Leeds will take the game to Man City and provided they don’t make it close to the Manchester men’s box I feel they will be a bit exposed at the back. I expect an entertaining game here.
Salah – TSB ~ 38%
This man has found his way back into my side as well. Villa have shown a bit more defensive resolve than last season but are still allowing the opposition to attack regularly. Whilst Liverpool have found a way to basically clog the midfield and send cross-field balls to launch attack after attack. I think this match will end up being a shooting gallery and expect Martinez to have a very busy day at the office. At the time of writing (pre-cup game), it is expected that he will be rested for the cup fixture so he should be fresh for the w/e too. After two games of being outscored by Mane, I think he will want to emphasize that he is the no.1 attacking threat in the side.
The Fear
These players are not in my squad and I will be watching from behind the sofa as they look likely to cause serious damage this weekend. Cursing their names as my rivals miraculously own them.
Jiménez – TSB ~ 28%
Mr. Consistent for Wolves chipped in for West Ham last week and will no doubt be keen to make amends when the London outfit of Fulham turn up. One price rise so far this week already with many flocking away from Martial/Werner who have yet to show any real worth in FPL points for their value. Traore is yet to cross a ball to his teammate but Podence, who I think we should expect back into the fold, will provide a bit of spark. Semedo/Saiss will both want to make better impressions than last week. There’s no doubt Scott Parker has improved Fulham since their last time in the PL but they still haven’t stopped the shots/goals from firing in. I expect a Wolves win with Jimmy at the heart.
Ings – TSB 20%
Well fancied by many to do what Chelsea/Werner could not. Score against a still quite porous WBA side. Ings has penalties these days and is looking about as sharp as before. 2 against Spurs, 1 against Burnley. Probably another one here. I have a terrible ownership record of Ings’ so there’s that counting in his favour too.
Mane – TSB ~ 12%
Mane stole the show at Chelsea, worked his socks off at Arsenal (and was rewarded) and other than Salah’s GW1 hattrick, Mane has looked the better of the two players. There’s no doubt that Mane can match and outperform Salah for periods of the season and we may have already entered one of such periods. I imagine he will end up with quite a few opportunities this weekend and could well feature on the scoresheet again.
Aubameyang TSB ~ 30%
Spurned by many, the price has dropped to 11.9 at the time of writing as many of us try to balance which premiums we want this week. Arsenal will be keen to bounce back from what was actually a reasonable showing against last year’s champions. Sheffield have yet to really inspire defensively as yet and I would expect that Arsenal will line up strong and be afforded one too many chances. Despite adding points to his tally he has yet to ‘bang’ and this seems like a good opportunity for a brace. His tendency to punish lower half teams is widely talked about and so far Sheffield have yet to show the level of resiliency as last season, coupled with injuries to their back-line, Arsenal and Auba should make light work in this fixture. Lacazette has somewhat been a forgotten man by us FPL managers this year, but is continuing in fine vain so far, knocking in 7 points a game so could well contribute here too.
Vardy – TSB 22.5%
We mentioned ahead of GW1 that we expected him to do well and 3 weeks in he tops the forward charts. Isn’t hindsight wonderful? A possible injury, but Rodgers seemed to indicate that he would recover in order to terrorize West Ham. Sure most of his goals have come from the spot but those points count just as much.
